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About Head Start
Sure Start in the UK is based on the USA's Head Start programme.
In 1964, the US Government asked a panel of child development
experts to draw up a programme to help communities meet the
needs of disadvantaged pre-school children. The panel report
became the blueprint for Project Head Start, launched in 1965.
Head Start and Early Head Start are comprehensive child development
programmes which serve children from birth to age five, pregnant
women, and their families. They are child-focused and have
the overall goal of increasing the school readiness of young
children in low-income families.
While Head Start caters to families with children from three
to school age, Early Head Start is aimed at families with
infants and toddlers, and pregnant women. It was launched
in 1994 on the basis of evidence from research and practice
which illustrates that early intervention through high quality
programmes enhances children's physical, social, emotional,
and cognitive development; enables parents to be better caregivers
and teachers to their children; and helps parents meet their
own goals, including economic independence.
In each programme, plans are developed jointly by the parents
and staff. They provide services through a mix of home visits,
experiences at the Early Head Start centre, and experiences
in other settings such as family or centre-based childcare.
Research on
Head Start
"The Head Start Synthesis project, a meta-analysis
of all the Head Start studies that could be found, found short-term
positive programme effects on intellectual performance in
179 studies and on school readiness in 137 studies." (Reference
below)
There is a great deal of published and ongoing research into
Head Start, both locally and nationally. The Head Start Family
and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) is a longitudinal study
which has collected data on a representative sample of 3,200
children and families in 40 Head Start programmes, in order
to describe the characteristics, experiences, and outcomes
for children and families in Head Start and after a year of
kindergarten. A new cohort of FACES was launched in autumn
2000, with a sample of 2,800 children entering Head Start
in 43 new Head Start programmes. The impact of the programme
on fathers and on Native Americans are just two examples of
other issues currently being researched.
Sherri Oden, Lawrence Schweinhart and David Weikart, with
S Marcus and Yu Xie, High/Scope Press, 1-800-407-7377, $29.95.
2000.
A 17-year follow-up study took place of 622 young adults
aged 22 in Colorado and Florida, who were born in poverty
and did or did not attend Head Start as young children (77%
of the original sample). The research showed that those who
participated achieved greater school success than those who
did not, indicating the long-term effects of the programme.
The study found evidence of important effects on school success
and crime. For females (but not males) at one school site,
after adjusting for background differences, only about one
quarter as many Head Start participants as non-participants
(5% versus 19%) failed to obtain a high school or GED diploma,
and only one third as many (5% versus 15%) were arrested for
crimes.
The study also examined the effects of a Head Start programme
that used the High/Scope
educational approach. Using this approach, teachers set up
the classroom and the daily routine to encourage children
to initiate their own learning activities. Children who attended
Head Start classes using this approach rather than the standard
Head Start curriculum of the time had a significantly higher
grade point average throughout their schooling and experienced
fewer than half as many criminal convictions by age 22. A
recent national survey found that 37% of Head Start programmes
today use the High/Scope approach.
Links:
Reference:
(1) Lawrence J. Schweinhart, "The High/Scope
Perry Preschool Study: A Case Study in Random Assignment",
Evaluation and Research in Education, Vol. 14, No.
3&4, 2000, quoting McKey, R.H., Condelli, L., Ganson, H.,
Barrett, B., McConkey, C., and Plantz, M. (1985) The Impact
of Head Start on Children, Families and Communities (Final
Report of the Head Start Evaluation, Synthesis, and Utilization
Project). Washington, DC: CSR.
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